Constellations
by HeyItsToon
Summary: It isn't hard to realized when you've majorly mucked up. It's even easier when you've been thrown out into space to orbit the moon for eternity with nothing to think about but your mistakes. Wheatley had just about come to terms with his horrible fate, that is, until a shimmering orange ring of hope popped up onto the moon's surface. There's one thing left to do, find Chell.
1. PROLOGUE: Orbit

PROLOGUE: Orbit

Space, was boring. Really, really boring. At least, it was if you were trapped in orbit around one lunar body circling endlessly with no sign of going home anytime soon, or anytime at all for that matter.

There's the sun again, bloody bright, isn't it? Too bright. There's Earth, and its moon. There's 8 other planets, not sure what their names are, never bothered to program that into him, not that had cared, _before. _He had never even considered that he might see the planets one day, the stars, _the sky. _He'd only wished it was on better terms.

He'd pictured his first time seeing stars a bit different really. The main difference, was that he thought he'd see them from Earth. He thought he'd see them with _her. _They'd walk of the lift, out the door, and look up at the sky together. Hand in handle, having escaped from hell itself. _Not like this._

He'd had plenty of time to think about it. Every single _stupid _thing he'd done. He wanted more than anything just for a _chance _to talk to her again.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly to himself. "I'm so, so sorry." His optic lids scraped closed. He'd wanted to help her. His first and _only _friend. Not an angry AI yelling at him for failing a simple task, not a brick wall conversation from a turret, a _human. _The kind of living thing you couldn't quite make sense of unless you _were _one.

Humans, smelly as they were, were such a curious thing for Wheatley. They did things without explanation, stupid, life-endangering things. And in some insane work of magic, or divine interference, it usually ended up producing something incredible.

A human didn't need to be programmed to do something, they just decided to. What had persuaded them to create half of the things in the facility, Wheatley didn't know. Especially not _Her. _

An innate curiosity and too-intelligent-for-their-own-good scientists had created Her. Had created him. Had created everything he'd ever known before getting sucked through that portal.

And funny enough, Wheatley couldn't pin down any significant human in his memory besides _her. _He hadn't the foggiest idea who created him. All he had were faded voices and faces, and an unanswered question. "_What exactly am I to be doing?"_

"Space!" A high voice interrupted. _Right, still there, are we, Spacey? _Despite being far out of earshot, the radio device connecting them was still functional. Sound didn't travel in space anyway. He'd thought about disabling the radio before, until he realized he wasn't really sure _how. _He'd not even been sure he wanted to do it in the first place. Inane blabbering was better than deafening silence after all.

"Stars, galaxies." Wheatley had tried his damndest to talk to Space Core. About anything really.

"You got any favorite constellations, Spacey?" Wheatley asked.

"Lightyear." Space Core spouted.

And any attempt at conversation tended to go the same way. Whether or not he actually had any substance to what he said, though, it was _something. _Some sort of noise he could use to ground himself in reality, much needed when floating through space.

Sleep-mode could only pass so much time before he was automatically woken up. He wanted to curse whoever installed emergency solar power recharge, and whoever's _bright idea _it was to require an _administrator password _for a manual shutdown. He was told dying would hurt, but hurt would be better than _nothing._

"Orion." His mind wandered off to _her _a lot. _What was she doing down there? Was she still testing? Did she manage to escape? Were there other humans still alive on the surface? _He stopped for a moment, questioning if he was even _allowed _to wonder. _Does she ever think about me?_

"Satellite." He shuddered. _No. She wouldn't waste her time thinking about you. She's moved on. She hates you. She never wants to think about you again. _His optic was pressed shut, and he shook lightly.

"Moon rocks." He could picture her down _There. She could still be trapped down there, testing, with Her. _He tried to push the thought away. Nothing he could do about it. _God there was nothing he could do about it. _He felt so utterly powerless in every way. He couldn't help her, and he sure as hell couldn't help himself.

"Crater." He compressed his handles. Every time horrid thoughts would invade his mind, it was all he could do to cope. He would _shrink. _Become as small as he felt. He felt cold, colder than usual. Maybe he was passing behind the planet's shadow again. He couldn't bring himself to look. He could bring himself to do anything but _shrink and stew and wish he wasn't such a failure and that he was a better friend and that he did something and that he could've-_

"Portal." His optic flew open.

"What'd you just say mate?" He questioned. Out of Space Core's limited space-themed vocabulary, he'd _never _heard him say _portal _before.

"Portal. Portal." He repeated, seemingly as fascinated as Wheatley was confused. He turned his optic to face behind him, scanning the surface of the moon. _There was no way that…_

"Portal." Orange. A glowing, bright orange, tear in the world. And behind the shimmering orange, gray. Dark, uniform, gray tiles.

"Portal." Wheatley repeated. "That's...a...p-portal." He stammered.

"Portal!" Space Core cheered. "Space is too big. Too big, wanna go home." Space Core blathered. Wheatley hadn't been sure Space Core had even comprehended what the portal had meant. He began the vacuum of space would reverse, pulling him through, taking him back down _There _where he was _useful _and where he could _ask is she alive is she okay can I tell her I'm sorry. _

A clean, white and grey robotic arm slinked out from the portal. A red, rotating optic on it's wrist.

"No. No. No. Home is scary. Wanna stay in space." Space Core panicked.

[I.D. CORE-IDENTIFIED]

"Uh, yep, that'd be me, uh, mysterious...arm...thingy" It gripped his entire body firmly.

[UNIT RETRIEVED]

The arm began slowly pulling backwards, into the portal.

"Are we, uh, going home then? Because, man alive would that be the height of irony right there."

[UNIT FUNCTIONAL]

"Ah yes! Very good on you for noticing that! Very well done. Don't seem to really be answering the questions I'm actually _asking _though."

[COMMENCING OVERRIDE]

"Commencing what now? Uh, might wanna run that by me because in the past I have NOT enjoyed the context of that word." A graphic of a smiling lady sleeping in a bed flashed into his vision. At the top read '_Sweet Dreams!' _and in the corner hid an Aperture logo.

[OVERRIDE COMPLETE]


	2. Chapter 1: A Warned Welcome

[Rebooting…]

A cascade of protocols scrolled past before he had time to read even a single word. A flurry of bright red error messages stuck around just long enough for him to read, if he really tried. He could make out '_**OPTICAL FRACTURE**_' and '_**ILLEGIBLE FILES**_' Not a great sign, really, but he _was _booting up, so that was something.

Wheatley's vision blurred back to him, though, there wasn't much to see, just Aperture wall panels, and..._not stars. He really was back._

"I'm going to be honest, I never thought I'd have to look at you again." Boomed _Her _voice from all over at once. Cold, authoritative, _threatening. _

"I would have been more than happy to leave you drifting in space until your parts broke down into mere space debris, which would've taken _much longer _without Earth's weathering, mind you. He flung his optic back and forth, trying to find something to focus on, to make the overwhelming _everywhere _of Her voice more manageable.

"But then I had a _wonderful _idea. Do you want to know what it is?" A robotic arm lowered from the ceiling. For once, Wheatley couldn't manage a single word. He was beyond _petrified. _His vocal processors wouldn't cooperate with the slurred combination of words running through his head.

"I thought of a _brand new _kind of test. One that doesn't _need _humans. And who better to be my first test subject than you?" There was a horrible _giddiness _in her voice. It was the kind of tone that made you feel like a cockroach about to have an insect killer tested on it.

The robotic arm gripped him firmly, and the panels beneath him gave way to a foggy _abyss. _Small blue panel lights glared up at him. A small room slid underneath him.

"It's funny, you know." A panel of the roof opened up for him. "I never thought I'd be happy to see your horrible, dented body in my facility again." The arm began lowering. "But seeing how terrified you are right now reminds me why it's a good idea to keep scrap metal like yourself lying around for _just these occasions."_

Hundreds of plugs and sharp bits dug into him all at once. Signals began buzzing through his mind, carefully noting every single memory. Every single thought. Every single facet of his personality. A sinking, _violated _feeling buzzed through his body.

"Hey! What are you doing to me!?" Wheatley cried. He attempted to shake them off, but whatever was holding his body in place wasn't budging. "That's ME you're poking around in!"

"_Oh, I know." _Her voice hissed. Wheatley shut up immediately. He'd forgotten how terrifying being under Her mercy had been. In space, nobody had minded how much of a chatterbox he was. There was nobody _to _mind. Nobody to listen.

After getting used to absolute nothings from Spacey, her hate-lined words burned into him one after the other. Every second reminded him how _bad _of an idea coming back had been. _Not that I had much of an option but still. _

"I've been itching to try this new _test _you know? Specifically on _you." _If Wheatley had a throat he would've gulped.

"I'm sure...there's...a reason I'm so, uh, perfect for this test...right?" He offered, voice shaking.

"_No._" She snapped. "In fact, _nothing_ about you will ever be perfect for _anything._ You were built to be a moron and you somehow manage to do _that _wrong. It'd honestly be impressive if it weren't so annoying to deal with." He considered for a moment.

"Then...why did you-"

"I chose _you _because I don't _care _if this ends up killing you." A cold bite shot through him.

"I don't want to damage anything of _value." _

The sound of grinding metal grew closer.

Chell peeked over the counter at the cue of the door's creak. She had been tinkering with an old radio that she kept in her kitchen. The signal had been finicky for a full ten minutes. _Piece of junk really, probably needs repaired_. Stood in the doorway was a short, mid-twenties man with messy red hair.

"Morning Chell!" He cheered. He placed a dark gray laptop onto the counter. "What're you up to this morning?" Being a woman of few words, she held up the radio and a screwdriver. "Again? Honestly I don't see why you don't just get a new one." He paused for a moment. "Have we made through enough pleasantries for me to ask you for a favor?" Chell snickered and approached the laptop. "It's weird, I've never seen it do _anything _like this before. I thought you might be able to help."

She opened the computer to a login screen.

[USER: Gregory Rogers]

[PASSWORD: ]

Chell turned the laptop towards him, and he quickly inputted the password. The laptop opened to a messy-beyond-reason desktop, and a window popped open.

_No. _The window was dark gray, a paragraph to the right, and an _unmistakable _symbol on the left. _Aperture. It was the Aperture logo. _

Chell tensed up, eyes locked onto the screen. She had _thought_ this would be another easy fix for Greg's download-happy habits' viruses. _Not Aperture. Never Aperture._

"I don't know what this is about. It sounds like some sort of scam, right?" Greg suggested.

[APERTURE DEVICE DISTRESS SIGNAL]

[_You are receiving this message from an Aperture Science sentient AI device. If you are seeing this message, and Aperture device within a five-mile radius is in need of assistance of any kind. We here at Aperture kindly ask that those closest assist the AI in need, to prevent the loss of any expensive or possibly irreplaceable hardware. You will be compensated by an Aperture Science robotics wing associate for your assistance. Thank you, Aperture Laboratories]_

Beneath the paragraph was a set of coordinates for the origin, and the name of the device that sent out the signal. _Intelligence Dampening Sphere. _Right on the money. Of course it had to be the _one core _she knew.

"Uh...Chell?" Greg offered. Chell had fixed her gaze onto the screen. "You okay?" She grabbed a scrap of paper, wrote down the coordinates, slammed the laptop closed, and ran upstairs. "Chell, wait!" Greg chased after her. She had taken of her top, now only wearing the tank top underneath, and a pair of sweatpants. She grabbed a pair of tall, white and black boots out of her closet. "What's going on with you?!" Greg shouted, grabbing her shoulders. He gave her a pleading look.

"Does this…" He considered. "Have something to do with where you…" He looked back up at her, and could see the pained look in her eyes. There was a determination in her face that didn't look like it'd let up. He loosened his grip on her shoulders to be more comforting.

"Please, be safe." He pleaded. "You're coming home by the end of the day. Fair?" She smirked a bit, and nodded. Her grip on the boots tightened, and Greg let go of her shoulders. She sat down on the bed to put the boots on.

"I trust you know what you're doing," Greg started. "But please, don't do anything stupid." He looked back at her. _Nothing she does is stupid. _His face said. _Except this. _She thought to herself.

_Oh god oh god oh god please stop please please please_

Wheatley hadn't been able to even comprehend what was happening to him. Only that it _hurt. _The room was so dark, and he was in so much pain. It wasn even the sort of _localized _pain that you could shift and shake to numb. It was _everywhere _all at once. Intense, overwhelming. And in an instant, it stopped.

Wheatley slowly slid his optic slightly open, still bracing for another assault on his nervous-system-simulator. He groaned and spouted a few half-words, burnt out from screaming in agony.

"And I didn't think you could get any louder." She groaned. ¨I know you think you're in a lot of pain right now, but I can make you feel a lot _worse. _You'd do best to stop struggling, and to lower your volume."

Wheatley didn't even have a moment to think of some sort of comeback or even a fearful daydream when the pain returned. It felt burning hot and numbingly cold at the same time, running up and down every inch of him, as if _searching _for something.

_An electrical shock. _That's what the feeling was. Electricity. Every thought being interrupted, the quaking feeling going through his body. It was _searching _him, he was sure of it. An undeniable feeling only a machine could have, for their programming to be investigated so thoroughly and to feel so much _pain _and to feel so _absolutely violated _in the most intense way possible.

A break again. He had a second to think about something other than how terrible he felt. _What is She looking for?_

"You know metal ball," She started. "I was beginning to worry that I wasn't going to find what I was looking for." Her voice was sinister and and giddy. "But I can tell I'm getting closer. You might want to take a deep breath."

He hadn't been listening to her, only searching his protocols for some way _out of this. _He hadn't braced himself. Pain unleashed upon him once again. He felt like he was going to burst, and was mostly just surprised she hadn't fried every circuit in his body. _She probably has the ability to disable my pain simulators. _He wanted so badly to tighten up his body but he involuntarily loosened everything more than he'd ever had cared for. _She wants me to be miserable. _

The pain fizzled out once more. Wheatley desperately returned to searching his protocols.

"Hey, _guess what I found." _She cheered. "_Go on, guess." _Battery saving mode...night vision, oh that would've been useful earlier, radio distress signal, optical clean...wait hold on radio distress signal? "Honestly I don't think you're even trying. Why is it that when _you _want to have a conversation, you never shut up, but _as soon as I want you to say something, _you're completely silent. I wonder why I even go through the effort of setting this up if you won't appreciate it." Wheatley fumbled through activating the distress signal.

[SENDING SIGNAL OUT]

[8 DEVICES LOCATED IN RADIUS]

[SENDING…]

"Well if you won't guess, I'll just tell you. I found your memories, and more importantly, _the real reason you were built. How exciting is that?" _Wheatley's optic shot up.

"Wait, you wha-" And the agony returned.

[SIGNAL INTERRUPTED]

[SUCCESSFULLY SENT TO ⅜ DEVICES LOCATED]

The entrance to Aperture science stood before Chell. Or, more accurately, the exit. The only known path to the surface within 4 miles, and the very same one she'd left through. She'd walked out of that horrible place, charred companion cube strapped to her back, and walked for 2 hours before finding any trace of civilization. Luckily, this trip had only taken 1 hour, thanks to having a car, at least one machine that was on _her _side.

She hesitated as she reached for the handle. She was really going to go back. In _There. _She fought tooth and nail, blood sweat and tears to get out, and here she was. Only feet away from walking right back into _hell. Willingly. _She lowered her hand.

What reason did Chell even have to go back in there? One tiny AI, that tried to kill her multiple times. The same one that told her to let herself be thrown into space so he could pull himself back into the facility. And...the same one that begged for her to hold on.

After all, he was the _only _friend she'd had down there, and those last few moments, the last time she saw him, the last time he'd seemed himself again, he was thrown into the worst fate. Not death, not imprisonment, just doomed to the vast _nothingness_ of space. No sound. Nobody to talk to. Nothing new to look at once you'd seen it all. Space was truly, just... _nothing. _

And, it was nothing less than what Wheatley had deserved. She'd tried to convince herself of that, but she never truly believed it. The _one _thing that refused to let her believe it, was _Caroline. _That when disconnected from the mainframe, She became something with _humanity. _Something that saved her life.

There was a sort of cruel irony to it. Both of them had tried to kill her, both of them had saved her. Though, she was only willing to even _consider _forgiving one of them. Maybe it was that Wheatley still seemed at least _somewhat _human. Maybe it's that She had only helped her of necessity, and Wheatley had been like an ill-behaved puppy. Eager to please, despite his incompetence.

The mainframe hadn't been _him. _It was a twisted manifestation of his own insecurities, desires, self-loathing. A malevolent warping of a personality, and destruction of what one could call a friendship.

Chell leaned down and tightened the straps on her long-fall boots, an essential tool needed in There. She gripped at the backpack wrapped around her shoulders, as if checking its authenticity. As she cycled through making sure she had everything she needed, she stopped just before reaching for the door once again.

_It was so hard to get out the first time. What if she couldn't get back out? What if it was too late to even save him? How did he even get back for that matter? It could be a trick by Her. _

She clenched her teeth and grabbed the door handle. She had come too far to change her mind now, and she never considered herself someone who gave up. Slowly and evenly, turned the handle.

He hadn't gotten a break for a while. She had found what she was looking for, right? She was just tormenting him now, _that's it. She must get an absolute kick out of this_.

Almost on cue, the zapping stopped again. He gasped for breath he didn't need, more like a pre-programmed expressive protocol, and let every piece of him relax after being forced to stand straight for so long.

"You probably noticed that I had that one last a _bit _longer." She said flatly. "Remember when I said that I could make you feel _much _worse if you didn't stop fighting me on this?" His optic widened at the realization. "One of those devices you sent the distress signal to was _me, moron." _

"I'm not-" he started. "I'm…" Oh who was he kidding. He hadn't been able to think of himself as anything else after what he did to her. He made every dumb decision possible, and pain is what he deserved.

"Nobody's coming for you, you know." Her voice chilled. "The only person who'd even consider you, the one you tried to _murder, _is miles away from here." Wheatley looked up.

"She's...she's safe, then?" He asked. There was a silence.

"She's outside of my surveillance." She answered. "And most likely, outside of your message's radius. You know, I almost feel sorry for you. There isn't a single being on this planet who wants you around." She stung.

"No that's," he thought for a moment. "that's not true."

"_Oh? _Does it really help you to believe that? You think maybe she'll come back for you, then? You think she's majoring in space travel to come save you?"

"...No."

"See, even you aren't that stupid."

"But she remembers me. I know it. She has to."

"You think she remembers you _fondly?"_

Wheatley didn't answer. He knew it wasn't true, that she would come for him, that she cared for him, but he clung to the hope like his life depended on it. And, in a way, it did.

"Wait. What is _that?" _She puzzled. "Oh. _Oh. Good. _Speak of the devil. We have a visitor."

Figures that there would be no elevator down. Just a however-many-mile drop. She would have doubted the success rate of the long-fall boots for that high a drop, but they'd saved her plenty of times now.

She slammed down on a catwalk with a thud. She was surprised it hadn't broken, being so old. She glanced at her GPS for her coordinates. She wasn't too far off.

The facility was strangely calm. No turrets, no funnels, no lasers. She was sure this couldn't last, though. Especially not if she got closer to Wheatley. She brushed her palm on the handrail as she walked. She had to go a few levels deeper, and a fair ways forward, but with how big the facility was, she considered herself lucky. The hard part now would be getting through the winding walls of the facility. She spotted a camera on the wall looking at her, and she promptly knocked it off its stand with her sledgehammer.

"_It's you again." _A sinister voice slithered through the area. "_I thought I told you not to come back." _She ignored Her and kept walking. "It's because I have something of yours, _isn't it?_" A door ahead. "Don't go in there." She went in there. A long hallway, with a staircase at the end. _Perfect, _a reliable way down. "I know you know better than to try and retrieve that little moron. He isn't worth it. He definitely isn't worth how much damage you'll do by just standing in my facility." She kicked the door in.

_She's coming. She's actually coming. _He couldn't believe it. She was actually here. For _him. _She did care. She came to save him. He didn't deserve it a single bit but here she was. He worried for a moment, if she'd get killed trying, but _no. She's been through worse. _

He'd wanted to help. To do something besides sit around waiting to be rescued. He shifted his body. The plugs remained stuck into him. The claw's grip, _yep, still firm. _It was interesting though, that even though the room looked the same, you could feel her presence shift. Sure she could be back at any moment, but you knew if her focus was off you.

He went over the monologue he'd rehearsed hundreds of times in space. His apology. To her.

"Alright, uh, here goes, wasn't sure I'd ever get to use this, but, ello again love! You uh...remember me? Helpful little Wheatley core that woke you up and shut down the turrets and neurotoxin with you? Yeah uh, I know it's hard to believe, and, and you may have forgotten, on account of the brain damage, and whatnot, but, I wasn't a very good friend the _last _time we saw each other. I was a, a bit monstrous. Selfish...bossy...murdery...but, I wanted to apologize, to you. I uh, I mean this, truly, from the base-line of my code...I'm sorry. I'm so, so genuinely sorry. For everything." He paused, finishing the part he'd planned out. "And I've been thinking about you, a lot. Nonstop, actually. How, smart...and nice you are. And uh...how we were friends. I missed that. Having a friend. Only one I've ever had actually." He nervously chuckled. "Results conclusive though, I'm not very good at friendship, so...maybe for the better. You though, top notch friend actually! You were great, tried to catch me, gave me my privacy while I hacked, uh, tried to hold on to me when I was thrown out, into space. Remember that one?" He heard a creaking behind him.

"Hello? Who's there?" _Bingo. _Chell bashed the panel open, crawling into the small room. It was much brighter in here than it was in the foggy mess of mechanics outside. Wheatley's optic adjusted to the blurry, darkened figure. It was _her._

"Oh." He started, still dumbfounded to see her. "It's you. It's really, actually, you." She walked over to him and began tearing out cords. "AAGH! Hey! Gentle please! OWWCH!" She pried open the claw, dropping Wheatley onto the floor.

"Agh, careful…"

She grabbed him by the handles, getting a good look at him for the first time in years. He was burnt, battered, his eyes was cracked. His handles were bent. His body was dented. Every few seconds he would twitch and spark. He was so _broken. _It was impossible to view him as anything but vulnerable.

"Ha, uh, ello there." He started, nervously. "You know, I had this whole speech planned out, whole apology to you, but now I just, wow, you're really here, I just...can't seem to remember it…" She began crawling through the gap in the panels once again.

Chell investigated her surroundings. She didn't recognize anything, and she couldn't go back the way she came.

"Oh! Oh I know where this is!" Whealtey cheered. Okay, you got your boots, right? Great! If you jump down to that catwalk down there it'll take us to an emergency fire exit! Long way up, but, uh, better than Her catching us, right?" Chell hesitated from his advice. "Oh, right, uh, you don't really trust me. Well, I...can't say I blame you, but if you trust me on this one, I promise there will be plenty of time, on the surface to, uh, have me be wrong about things, and to...apologize of course. Not the time nor place now really is it?" She grimaced and jumped for the catwalk. It shook beneath her on landing, and Wheatley screamed. He slowly stopped, realizing they were fine.

"Oh look at that! Still being held, still alive. Brilliant that is." She pointed to her left and gave him a look. "Oh right, direction, um...go...left." She went left. "No! Wait! Sorry, my left. Other left." She sighed and turned around.

It wasn't as close as she anticipated, but the catwalk did end up leading to a fire escape staircase. She felt calmer in here. She knew that any room old as this one, not made of panels, was _mostly _safe from Her. She held Wheatley lazily with one arm and ascended.

"Oh right, you know what now would be a good time for? I'm sorry. Very sorry. So, so genuinely sorry." Wheatley started. Chell's pace slowed. He considered his planned out apology for a moment, before 'tossing it in the metaphorical bin.'

"I was bad. Really bad. I wasn't a good friend to you. I took you for granted, and, I've never been good at the whole _friendship _thing. Never lasted very long, but, I thought we could…" He paused. "I'm not doing very good at this, am I? You'd think after practicing this so many times I'd have it down by now, but…" He couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I really missed you. A lot. Being your friend. Having someone listen to me. You know, someone who doesn't say '_Shut up Wheatley nobody cares!'_" He weakly laughed. Chell stopped, and lifted him up to her eye level. She didn't say anything, only gave him an understanding expression.

"So uh...do you forgive me…?" She sharply glared and lazily dropped him back at her side. "Right, sorry, stupid question."


End file.
